Contents

Synopsis

When Star refuses to solve a problem in math class, she learns that avoiding her least favorite subject may have cosmic repercussions.[3]

Plot

The episode begins in Miss Skullnick's math class, and all of her students (except Marco) look bored and sleepy. At the back of the classroom, Janna tells Star the classic "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke, causing Star to laugh loudly. Because she caused a disruption during class, Miss Skullnick tells Star to solve the math equation on the chalkboard. Star goes up to the board, but instead of solving the equation, she draws a cat face. Miss Skullnick tells her to solve the equation for real, but Star is so terrible at math that she refuses to try.

Just then, the earth starts to shake, and Star suddenly finds herself back in her seat. Janna, wearing a different hat, tells her chicken joke again, but it has a different punchline. For Star's disruption in class, Miss Skullnick tells her to solve the math equation on the chalkboard. Once again, Star refuses to try, and once again, the earth shakes, and Star is back in her seat. Like before, Janna is wearing a different hat, and her chicken joke has a different punchline. After several repeats of the same events, Star realizes she is stuck in a time loop.

Using Marco's dimensional scissors, Star goes to the Plains of Timedimension to ask Father Time for answers. Father Time runs over Star with the Wheel of Progress, but he continues on his way without listening to her dilemma. As Star grumbles out loud about her problem, she attracts the attention of Omnitraxus Prime, the master of space-time and one of the members of the Magic High Commission. When Star explains that she's caught in a time loop that keeps looping back to a math problem, Omnitraxus tells her to "do the math". But Star is unable to because she never paid attention in class.

To help Star, Omnitraxus takes her within himself to the Crystal Fields of Interwoven Continuum. Here, Star is able to perceive various versions of herself from alternate universes and timelines. In all those alternate universes, the other versions of Star all worked through their problems. Because Star refuses to do the same, her timelines are all colliding with each other, which causes the tremors. If Star doesn't figure out her math problem, her timelines will all shatter. Star asks Omnitraxus to solve the problem for her, but Omnitraxus tells her there are no shortcuts and that she must solve it on her own.

Star returns to the classroom, but her colliding timelines cause all space and time to start to collapse. She reasons that if the infinite versions of herself know how to solve the equation, she herself must know how to solve it as well. Star goes up to the chalkboard and starts solving the equation while space and time collapse all around her. When she finally writes the answer, time and space return to normal, and the time loop is broken. Miss Skullnick tells Star her answer is wrong, but she commends her for at least trying.

Marco comforts Star by saying math is pretty complicated, and Star remarks, "You have NO idea." Miss Skullnick then calls Marco to the chalkboard to try solving the equation.

During the scene where time and space start to collapse, Marco briefly appears to have multiple heads. One of his heads is Naysaya.

Allusions

One of the alternate universe versions of Star resembles Link from the Legend of Zelda video game series.

Another one of the alternate universe versions of Star resembles Sailor Moon from the anime of the same name.

Errors

During the time loop's second iteration, Janna wears a blue winter hat instead of her normal olive-colored beanie. Near the end of the iteration, when Star looks at the class from the front of the classroom, Janna briefly appears wearing her normal beanie instead of the blue winter hat.

When Star first sees the different iterations of herself, Mina Loveberry Star has purple hair and the same outfit as the original Mina Loveberry, kitty Star is wearing Star's green dress outfit, demon Star has the same colors as the original Star and a bat on her dress, and St. Olga’s disguise princess Star has a blue skirt and headband and purple suspenders.

In addition, when Star becomes Mina Loveberry Star, kitty Star, and demon star respectively, Mina Loveberry Star and kitty Star have the same color scheme as the original Star while demon Star's color scheme is similar to that of Tom's.